Merck's Head-long Leap into Follow-On Biologics

Merck outlined ambitious and capital-intensive plans for a biosimilars business at its annual investor day in early December. The company aims to leverage its 2006 acquisition of GlycoFi to launch six or more follow-on biologics between 2012 and 2017. The news shifts the Big Pharma in an entirely new direction, one that pharmaceutical companies--with the exception of Novartis AG's Sandoz division--have largely stayed away from.